After 11300 deaths, our world is Ebola free

Although the virus disappears from most of the body after a person is cured, it can remain in the semen of male survivors for as long as a year, according to WHO.

The World Health Organization or WHO yesterday, January 14, declared Liberia Ebola-free for the third time. But the global health organization cautioned that Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone remain at high risk for additional small outbreaks of the disease and must remain vigilant.

Chan warned of new transmissions through survivors who still have residue of the virus in their system.

The statement comes after Liberia, the last West African country to report a case of Ebola, was declared free of the virus.

The welcome announcement follows two recent flare-ups in Liberia, the latest in November, although the nation had been declared Ebola-free in May 2015.

In addition to child protection support, UNICEF will continue to support campaigns to maintain vigilance and awareness as well as rapid response teams that conduct active surveillance, social mobilization and early isolation and provide basic services, such as health, nutrition and water, hygiene and sanitation services.

Despite the progress that has been made to contain the virus and end the outbreak, officials noted, “more flare-ups are expected”. Indeed, this is a “monumental achievement”, given that in the two years since the outbreak began, the disease has killed more than 11,300 people, and infected more than 28,500.

Liberia was the last country to see the end of active transmission of Ebola.

It may be recalled that the 2014/2015 Ebola outbreak was declared over in Liberia on May 9, 2015. Inadequate care meant patients lay strewn on the streets or pavements waiting hours for tests and treatment; medical holding pens became growth centres for the disease.

Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed Wednesday his country had developed an Ebola vaccine, although he did not say what it was called, how it worked, who was developing it or if it had gone through trials.

“Throughout the epidemic, I witnessed how communities were ripped apart”, Hilde de Clerck, a Doctors Without Borders epidemiologist who worked in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, said in a news release.

The World Bank Group says it has mobilized US$1.62 billion in financing for Ebola response and recovery efforts in the West Africa region which was hardest hit by the virus.

This was revealed by Dr Alex Gasasira, the WHO Representative in Liberia. It has not only taken thousands of lives, it has devastated economies, health systems, social structures and families-reversing many years of development gains.